Friday Flourish: The Separated

Happy Friday Everyone!

A couple weeks ago I teased you all with snippets of six recent cover designs that hadn't yet been officially revealed, but today I get to share one of those covers in full. YAY!

Author Troon Harrison came to me through one of my longtime clients, Shelley Adina, and with one word she had me clapping excitedly and demanding to start immediately. What was that word you ask? UNICORNS. Unicorns! When I was little I was absolutely obsessed with an animated movie called The Last Unicorn (anyone else? Yes? No? No. Just me then. Awesome.), and longed for the day when it would be revealed that unicorns actually existed. Sadly, that day still hasn't come.

What did finally come though was the opportunity to bring a unicorn story to life through its cover, and I loved every minute I spent collaborating on this design with Troon. Obviously the presence of a unicorn was more than enough to suggest high fantasy, but I wanted the entire design to have a magical, enchanted feel, so I played a lot with various lighting effects around the unicorn as well as in the type itself. The end result is everything I hoped it would be when I first read through the design memo, and I hope you guys love it as well!

THE SEPARATED

Tales of Terre #1

Long ago, a fierce sea dragon sank a ship that carried two Golden Horns and their Keeper. The creatures—with power against darkness—were separated, and passed into myth. But now evil grows, for the cruel Lord Maldici guards a terrible secret in his mountain stronghold. He studies the black book of sorcery, and sends out spies to quest for the missing Golden Horn.

Vita is the youngest descendant in the long line of Keepers. Her magic must preserve the remaining Golden Horn in safety, for only its power can thwart the growing evil. Yet Vita is in danger of betraying her trust. Her best friend, the pirate Giovanni, struggles to break free of the gold-greed that enslaves his people. Only then can he aid Vita, and vanquish the dragon in battle. But when Vita wavers, Giovanni's life will be at risk in the dungeons of Lord Maldici. One other person will aid them: Marina, outcast daughter of a sea witch, searching for a home in the land of Verde. Overcoming their differences, these three must find courage to save what they love most from the gathering power of darkness.

Find Troon:

Website

You can check out more of my cover design work at Seedlings Design Studio!